Broken Again
by Denvana
Summary: [YU-GI-OH] Seto Kaiba changed after Yugi put him in that coma. He had learned to trust again. However, as with everything else in his life, nothing stays fixed for long. Changed from "Picking up the Pieces"


**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Yu-gi-oh. Kazuki Takahashi does. I'm not making any money from this._

**Notes: **_Meh...Spur of the moment thing. I was watching the first episode after duelist kingdonm, where Seto first gets captured in the virtual world. Notice how much more trusting he is during the first season? And how he acts afterwards? Well, here are my musings. Enjoy._

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><p>After so <em>long <em>it was finally done.

That was all Seto Kaiba could think about as he and his brother rode down the elevator to go test his new game. The chestnut haired teen was grinning on the inside, full of glee that his game was done. The game he had personally designed and tested tirelessly. After all the hard work, endless hours, days without food or sleep…he couldn't believe that it was finally complete. It almost caused him to forget the pain the Big Five put him and his brother through, almost forgot the ordeal with Pegasus. Even almost forgot the pain of failing his brother.

Almost.

He would still punish those men. He would still make sure they lost their jobs and everything else dear to them for making him and Mokuba suffer. So much had happened to the both of them and Seto was quickly becoming tired of it. Yugi had defeated him in a duel and in an attempt to supposedly "help" him; his darker self crushed his mind so he could put it back together again – properly. Gozaburo had changed him so much, that he was a completely different person by the time of Gozaburo's death. He was almost an exact replica of the man he called "step-father". Cold, cruel and heartless and his mind became nothing more than a twisted mess. When Yugi put him in a coma, he was forced to look back at the past he had tried so hard to run away from. He spent six months putting himself back together, trying to forgive the hurt and forget the anger.

Then Mokuba had been kidnapped. Before, he might have not cared as much; learning from Gozaburo that family had no place in business. But, with his renewed spirit – one which was scarred and fragile, he woke from his prolonged slumber. The doctors had called it a miracle, having previously proclaimed him a lost cause. But, Seto didn't care. His brother was out their, somewhere, alone and afraid. Mokuba needed him and he wasn't going to fail his only family ever again.

He managed to defeat Yugi, albeit using an underhanded way by putting his life at stake, but he had done it. He had come close to defeating Pegasus, but didn't. Yugi, however, saved them both, along with his grandfather. For that, he was eternally grateful to the other man.

When they finally reached Domino City, Seto headed straight over to Kaiba Corp. he had wanted to leave Mokuba back at their home, assuming that he would be exhausted, but Mokuba had insisted on coming with him. At Kaiba Corp. Seto felt the old anger that he used to practically _live _off of return. He would _destroy _those men who had betrayed him like that. It was unacceptable and he would not let it go unpunished. They spun out their excuses, as Seto expected them to but not buying a word they said. But, they had done something that perked at his interest – they completed his virtual reality adventure game.

After all those years, testing and prototypes, the game was complete and finalized. He remembered all the hardships involved with the making of the game. He would have to work on it in between the work Gozaburo and his tutors gave him and behind his step-father's back. Gozaburo had a strong hate for games and would be _furious_ if he found out that Seto was working on a virtual game. So, he placed it in his private lab, sneaking there at every chance he got to work on the project. It had been a dream of his to complete the game. It was small glimmer of hope for him during those dark days in his adoptive father's house. It was one thing to look forward to.

Though, when he _finally _got to the virtual world, when his dream was _finally _complete, when his glimmer of hope turned into a full out flame...it ended up becoming like everything else in his life.

A nightmare.

He had become trapped in his own game, not knowing a way out or what to do since the Big Five reprogrammed it. Now, here he was, hanged against a stone tablet, waiting to be sacrificed to a monster from a legend of his creation. His own game was going to destroy him.

Mokuba had warned him and even a part of him, the part just like Gozaburo who hated games just as much, had also told him not to go try the game because it was so obviously a trap. Besides, the side of him said, there was still the Big Five to take care of, still work to be caught up on. He was months behind schedule and the company was starting to fail. He didn't have time for games.

Though, after spending so long in a coma and half a year in the darkness, not knowing if he would ever be able to put his broken mind and heart back together again, he didn't feel like going on the side of caution. He felt like letting go of what he had done and the mess he had faced in the last couple of years. It was about time he did something uplifting, something that didn't involve revenge or hatred. So, he decided to ignore both warnings. He banished from his mind his infamous streak of bad luck, his tendency for making enemies and that the Big Five had tried to take over his company.

Forgetting, just like all the other mistakes he made, ended up costing Seto greatly. His mistake of trusting after so many years of learning the hard way that people just betray you His mistake after so many years of learning that if you let your personal self get involved you'll only fall harder. His mistake after so many years of learning that he should hide behind his Kaiba mask and act apathetic - _be _apathetic because if he cared he got hurt. If he hoped he got hurt. If he dreamed he got hurt. If he did anything, anything to show that he was indeed just another child inside, one who loves to play games and wanted to perfect one of his own after so much hard work, he got hurt. And he _knew_ all this. He had been trained to avoid it by Gozaburo. Yet, what did he do? He trusted those who had double crossed him, he let his want for the game overcome his common sense and he had let the mask slip.

Why, was the obvious question that followed his observations. Why had he been so careless? So foolish? _So weak? _As the blue eyes that had once held a small spark of life narrowed in disgust, they also glazed over, forming their detachment from the world once again. It answer was simple, yet he didn't want to admit it. No matter how much he despised it, he knew what his motivation was. He had been _happy_. He let the emotion take him over, since it had been so long since he had ever felt it. He had spent years living with pent up frustration, boiling rage and absolute loathing towards everyone and everything. He would only feel satisfaction from others pain ad unhappiness, never getting it from any other sources. Even Mokuba, his little brother, couldn't bring the joy back into him. It seemed as if Gozaburo sucked out his ability to be happy, trampled it and shoved it back in upside down. Then, naturally, when he felt the emotion course through his veins along with childish excitement, he couldn't seem to contain himself.

He would deal with the Big Five later.

Kaiba Corp. could wait.

Mokuba would be fine.

During the first couple of moments in the game, he felt no responsibility, no burden and no troubles. He was a new person with a fixed heart and mind. With time, both would gain strength and he would be okay. He could turn back into that brother Mokuba loved dearly, the one who cared and was nothing like Gozaburo. Life could be good again.

However, reality had a cruel way of showing people the truth.

His game was re-designed to work against him and now he was trapped, away from his body and helpless in the cyberspace world. When he had been kidnapped, his vision began to fade to black while his mind lost consciousness. He fell to the ground with the ropes of the net holding him down. The last thing he heard before falling back into that all too familiar darkness in his mind, was the sound of shattering.

He had spent six months putting his mind and heart together. Six months learning to trust and love again. He had put faith in the Big Five, let the vision of a dream control his actions for once. And his life had gone back to a hell.

Yugi was wrong. He couldn't care or hope. He shouldn't believe in others or show any emotions. He got hurt. _He always got hurt._

Half a year was how long he spent healing. His heart was delicate and worn out. With these new turn of events, with yet another dream being crushed, it turned back into what it had been before. A person could be repaired only so many times and Seto Kaiba had reached his limit long ago. After always having to pick up the pieces and desperately hold them together so he wouldn't completely fall apart. After having to give up and become a new person. After all of it, he had been given the chance and time to mend his self correctly. But, the seams that held him were fragile and had snapped. Now, he would stay the way he had been since his parents had died, since his relatives had abandoned him and since Gozaburo had wreaked him and would remain as such for the rest of his life.

**As a broken boy with a heart that had been shattered into pieces one too many times…**

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><p><em>:)<em>

_Drop a review if you can. _

_See you around._

_~Denvana~_


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